The Harm of Teaching Overweight Kids They’re Perfect As They Are
You may be promoting unhealthy eating habits and eventually obesity by teaching your overweight child that she’s perfect just the way she is.
• This isn’t about body shaming.
• This isn’t about demeaning a child.
• This isn’t about thinning out a child’s self-esteem.
So don’t even go there. Instead, it’s about being more mindful of what you say to your overweight child so that she doesn’t think it’s okay to have a junk food diet, be sedentary and be hefty.
“You’re Perfect just the Way You Are”
When this statement is meant to refer to the child’s inner self, to encourage socializing and speaking her opinions, to encourage questioning something that doesn’t seem right, to report a “bad touch” and any other perceived infractions committed by adults against that child – then by golly, keep making this statement to your daughter (or son).
But it’s a whole new animal when a very plus-size Instagram influencer tells her overweight young child she’s “perfect” just the way she is – referring strictly to her body. Yes, TO HER BODY.
I was inspired to write this warning to moms – who’ve become transfixed (and possibly confused) by the body positivity movement – after reading an influencer’s Instagram post.
This 265-pound influencer (yes, she’s posted her weight) has a noticeably overweight young daughter.
This influencer claims to continuously preach how the girl should accept her overweight body, not try to change it, and that she’s perfect as is.
An Overweight Child’s Body Is Not Perfect As Is
Shutterstock/Yuriy Golub
This can be a gateway to adult obesity, including morbid, not to mention an impediment at excelling in sports.
Never mind how she looks in the prom dress.
What about athletic performance and the ability to run fast?
Just what did the body positive influencer say?
She had partnered with Dove. Her message is as follows:
“The future shines bright for you, my dear daughter. To stand before the mirror and see that every inch of you is perfect just the way it is. You are able to see on TV or in a magazine images of women and girls who look like you and haven’t been digitally altered.
“Times are changing and I’m very thrilled to be part of all the positive things going on to ensure our next generation grows up with high self-esteem.
“That’s why I’m so eager to continue to partner with @Dove on their #ShowUs and no digital distortion campaigns.”
The message coming through is this: What a girl/woman looks like is more important than anything else.
What’s wrong with that picture?
A lot. It promotes the concept that women are first and foremost ornaments to be looked at.
Never mind the brains and creativity. It’s all about how they look.
This means every minute a girl spends focusing on body positivity is a minute subtracted from focusing on her knowledge, opinions, asssertiveness skills, artistic or musical abilities, creative juices, debating skills, ahtletic goals, etc.
To the moms out there, do you really think encouraging your chubby daughter to wear shorts and two-piece swimsuits is more important than encouraging her to read books, learn about science, use her new telescope for nighttime star gazing, or helping her appreciate classical music or helping her (in a fun way, of course) develop athletic prowess?
Never mind the miniature bikini to help her love her cellulite.
Wouldn’t it benefit her self-esteem and confidence a ton more to sign her up for karate lessons than to keep taking pictures of her in a bikini and posting to Instagram for strangers to see?
Martial Arts for Children of All Sizes Encourages…
• Self-discipline, reduction of temper tantrums
• Self-esteem and self-confidence
• An anti-drug, anti-smoking mindset
• Improved concentration and goal-setting
If it’s not okay for a dog to be overweight, why is it okay for a child to be?
“You are perfect just as you are,” when referencing the body, is a cryptic way of promoting obesity, because many obese adults were overweight, chubby or plump as children.
It’s one thing to assume your child will outgrow her plumpness.
But this particular influencer has told her followers that she routinely tells her daughter that her BODY is perfect just as is, and that no child should ever be put on a diet (as in, portion control and fewer calories from junk food).
Mama even had her daughter, when she was only six, pitching a thigh-chafing cream on Instagram!
Are you a binary thinker?
People who have a binary way of thinking will believe that the only alternative to this Instagram influencer’s approach is to body shame the young girl.
Mama doesn’t have to say ANYTHING to this child about her weight.
All Mama needs to do is encourage healthier eating, discourage overeating (e.g., lock up the junk food, monitor portions at dinnertime and have only fruit available for unsupervised daytime snacking), and enroll the child in some kind of sport.
Though sports involvement doesn’t guarantee trimming down a pudgy body, a sport that involves a lot of aerobic activity may encourage the child to eat healthier and more mindfully.
As she gets older and wiser she’ll realize that a non-overweight body will improve sports performance.
All of this can be accomplished without body shaming or demeaning the overweight child.
“I love you just the way you are,” is NOT the same as, “Your body is perfect just the way it is.”
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Amina Filkins, Pexels
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Does Yo-Yo Dieting Damage a Woman’s Heart Health?
What yo-yo dieting may do to a woman’s heart health should be incentive to stop this “weight cycling” and fight very hard to permanently maintain a healthy body weight.
Yo-yo dieting, also called weight cycling, stresses the body, says Susan L. Besser, MD, with Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore; Diplomate, American Board of Obesity Medicine and board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.
“Yo-yo dieting can cause rapid changes in the body (physically and metabolically) which can affect the body,” explains Dr. Besser. This includes the heart.
“It is much better to be consistent with what you do — eating behaviors, exercise — than do rapid shifting.”
Nevertheless, nobody really knows precisely what the mechanism is that yo-yo dieting negatively impacts heart health.
However, researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center presented some compelling findings at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2019 Scientific Sessions in Houston, TX.
And it’s these findings that will give chronic yo-yo dieters some serious pause.
The team found that women who had a history of weight cycling had more cardiovascular risk factors than did women who had maintained a stable body weight over time.
Yo-Yo Dieting Defined
Like a yo-yo, the person’s weight goes down and up, down and up – weight loss followed by weight gain – over and over, spanning years. Even a fluctuation of only 10 pounds counts as yo-yo dieting.
What the Researchers Used and Found
The American Heart Association has a Life’s Simple 7: a group of risk factors and health behaviors that yield a picture of heart health. This includes body mass index, total cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, exercise and smoking.
The study involved 485 women with an average age of 37 who’d had at least one episode of yo-yo dieting.
The team found that the more episodes of yo-yo dieting, the worse the women performed on Life’s Simple 7.
Thus, a direct correlation was revealed between frequency of weight cycling and poor Life’s Simple 7 results.
Association Doesn’t Establish Cause and Effect
The researchers point out that this finding does not reveal cause and effect; only an association.
However, there are theories for the association.
For instance, weight loss could result in some lost muscle tissue. But when the weight is regained, all of the regain is fat. This means more fat despite the same body weight. And of course, excess fat is not good for the body.
A second explanation that’s posed by the researchers is that blood sugar, blood pressure and triglycerides increase with each weight regain. But they don’t offer an explanation for why this is.
A third explanation – not posed by the researchers but nevertheless worth thinking about – is that women who are prone to yo-yo dieting may also be prone to other behaviors or habits that are bad for heart health – or at least associated with cardiovascular risk factors – such as excessive sleep, inability to manage mental stress, high alcohol consumption and poor diet.
Older Bodies
Dr. Besser points out that “the older body doesn’t respond as well to rapid changes as the younger body does.”
If you’re middle aged or older, this is all the more reason to end your yo-yo dieting once and for all.
Tips for Ending Yo-Yo Dieting
The following will help raise your resting metabolism, give you more energy and discourage junk food binges.
• Engage in both cardio and strength training.
• For strength training, focus on big moves like squats, leg and chest presses, overhead presses and pulling motions. Minimize time spent on “tiny” exercises such as dumbbell kickbacks, dumbbell side raises and biceps curls.
• If you use a treadmill, here are 10 reasons not to hold on.
• Employ HIIT: high intensity interval training
• Don’t try to avoid your favorite foods. This is demoralizing. Instead, practice PORTION CONTROL.
• Snack on heart healthy foods such as nuts, seeds, fruits and green salads.
Dr. Besser provides comprehensive family care, treating common and acute primary conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Her ongoing approach allows her the opportunity to provide accurate and critical diagnoses of more complex conditions and disorders.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Top image: Shutterstock/Cronislaw
Source: cuimc.columbia.edu/news/yo-yo-dieting-linked-heart-disease-risk-women
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Someone’s Having a Stroke: First 3 Things You Should Do
Do you know the first three things you should do if someone’s having a stroke?
Even a middle aged person can be stricken by this very common condition. Time is truly of the essence when it comes to a stroke.
The most common type of stroke is the ischemic type, in which a blood clot in the brain cuts off blood flow – and therefore oxygen – to the area of the brain that the blood vessel feeds.
The less common type is the hemorrhagic, in which a blood vessel ruptures, spilling blood onto brain tissue.
Both are life-threatening situations, and anyone nearby needs to act super-fast.
Time Is Brain
For some, time is money. But for all who have a stroke, time is brain. Fast thinking and fast action are crucial to prevent death and brain damage.
First Three Things to Do when Someone Is Having a Stroke
“The main thing is to immediately contact 9-1-1 and get the patient to the hospital,” says Sendhil Krishnan, MD, a board-certified adult general cardiologist with advanced subspecialty training in interventional cardiology.
“In the interim one should continue to monitor their neurological response and continuously check for a pulse (start CPR if necessary.)”
So that’s 1) call 9-1-1, 2) observe the patient, and 3) continuously check for a pulse.
“Patients should not be given any medications including aspirin,” says Dr. Krishnan.
“The reason for this is the stroke may be due to a bleed (hemorrhagic) or ischemic (due to clot). Giving blood thinners may only worsen the bleed and their brain.”
Source: vecteezy.com
Speaking of blood thinners worsening a bleed – another condition can mimic a stroke for which blood thinners can make worse: a delayed subdural hematoma from recent head trauma that the patient may have forgotten about, such as hitting their head on the door frame of a car when getting out.
This seemingly minor head trauma can cause a delayed brain bleed in a person over 65. The symptoms are nearly identical to that of an ischemic stroke.
Recognizing an Ischemic Stroke
Symptoms are sudden-onset.
• Any trouble with vision
• Paralysis of one side of the face or body/limb
• One side of the face drooping
• Weakness on one side of the body
• Slurred speech or difficulty talking
• Confusion or altered mental status
• Not being able to communicate even though seemingly conscious
• Stroke is even more suspicious if more than one of these symptoms are occurring or if there’s an accompanying bad headache.
Age is a risk factor, but In 2009, 34% of people hospitalized for stroke were younger than 65. Source: cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm. Freepik.com
“FAST” is the easy-to-remember acronym for stroke.
Signs of a Hemorrhagic Stroke
• Sudden “thunderclap” headache that takes a person’s breath away
• Patient reports they’ve never had a headache so agonizing.
• Nausea, vomiting may precede the headache.
• Vision problems
• One pupil more dilated than the other
“If the patient is diabetic and is profoundly hypoglycemic, they may act and behave as if having a stroke,” says Dr. Krishnan.
“In this case I would recommend giving them something sweet or sugary to raise their blood glucose levels.
“I would recommend things that can be absorbed through their cheeks (i.e., a lollipop or sugar tabs).”
This way the patient won’t have to chew and swallow, which – if they are having a stroke – could lead to choking and aspiration, says Dr. Krishnan.
Diabetes is a risk factor for stroke, so just because a person is diabetic doesn’t mean that you should automatically assume that the sudden-onset symptoms are from low blood sugar.
Even an ER doctor can’t officially confirm diagnosis of a stroke without a brain scan. Thus, the layperson family member or friend absolutely should not try to diagnose the absence of a stroke just because the patient has had similar symptoms in the past from diabetes or is “too young to have a stroke.”
Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke Risk Factors
• Age 65+
• Atrial fibrillation
• Carotid artery disease or peripheral artery disease
• Chronic/congestive heart failure
• Coronary artery disease
• Diabetes
• Diet high in sodium or bad fats (saturated, trans)
• Family history of stroke or cerebral aneurysm
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Obesity
• Previous diagnosis of a cerebral (brain) aneurysm
• Previous heart attack
• Previous transient ischemic attack (TIA)
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Smoking
Time lost is brain lost when it comes to a stroke. Seconds, not minutes, count.
Dr. Krishnan is with Pacific Heart & Vascular, where you can view his videos on heart disease and healthy living. He has numerous publications and often speaks at local and regional events.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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